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  UNITED STATES SENATOR RON WYDEN Biographical Information

In serving Oregon in the United States Senate, Ron Wyden pursues creative, bipartisan solutions to tough issues, offers unprecedented accessibility to his constituents, and stands up for Oregonians no matter the odds.

Creative, Bipartisan Solutions Ron Wyden constantly reaches across the aisle to build coalitions on important issues. He works closely with Oregon's junior Senator, Gordon Smith, on many issues and at the beginning of each Congress the two produce a bipartisan agenda for their state. In the areas of health care, technology, natural resources and other areas, Ron Wyden has produced important results.

Since his days as co-director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, Ron Wyden has been a respected voice on health care. In 2003, he authored the bipartisan Health Care that Works for All Americans law, which is being implemented in 2005 and 2006 to do what's never been done before: walk the American people through the tough choices of health care and reform the system through public input and political accountability. He authored the first law to protect seniors from unscrupulous Medicare insurance scams and exposed the tobacco companies for hiding the addictiveness of nicotine. His bipartisan legislation reformed the community health center law to make vital health services available to thousands of poor families at no additional cost to taxpayers, and increased Medicare reimbursement to states like Oregon, which the federal government has shortchanged for keeping their health costs down. To help women fighting cancer, Wyden exposed and eliminated waste in the case of the Pacific yew, a so-called "trash tree" that became the original source of the breakthrough pharmaceutical Taxol.

Widely recognized as an expert on technology policy, the Senator passed bipartisan laws prohibiting discriminatory taxes on Internet commerce and promoting the use of digital signatures. The Senator was selected for the American Electronics Association Legislator Hall of Fame and was named 2000 Legislator of the Year by the Information Technology Council.

In the natural resources field, Ron Wyden wrote with Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) what has become known as the County Payments Bill, legislation that the Forest Service considers "the most influential law to come along in three decades." The statute provides stable funding for rural schools and roads historically dependent on funds derived from the harvest of timber on federal lands.